


hurt whilst you can

by twelvexclara



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: 2024 Barry, 2024 Cisco, 3x19 - The Once and Future Flash, Angst, First Kiss, M/M, Past Relationships, Time Travel, Unresolved Romantic Tension, reaction fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 05:05:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10734699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twelvexclara/pseuds/twelvexclara
Summary: Barry runs to the year of 2024 in hopes of finding information on Savitar, so he can save Iris before its too late.Things are a bit more different than he expected them to be.





	hurt whilst you can

**Author's Note:**

> pls forgive me its 9pm and the episode just ended and im running on pure memory to write this ok bye
> 
> (title taken from life lesson by dodie clark go subscribe to her thx)

barry's first instinct when he runs to 2024 (after his run in with mirror mirror and top) is to go to his and iris' apartment.

heart thudding in his throat, he twists the rusting doorknob to find a space that looks as if a tornado had hit. he makes his way over to the pile of rubble in the middle of the room and crouches down. barry reaches a hand out and pulls on the corner of something protruding from underneath, and out slides a picture of joe and iris. he lets out a deep sigh and rubs his hand over his face. just as he's about to flash out of there, a voice calls out from behind him.

"barry?" the voice says choked up, almost if they were in total shock that he was there. barry stands up and whips around to be met with the sight of a smiling cisco. a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. and it broke barry's heart. this version of cisco is the most disheveled he has ever seen. bags under his eyes, hair messily thrown back into a bun and worn out clothes that hung loosly on his body. he had so many questions, but before he could collect his thoughts, words began tumbling out of his mouth with out his consent.

"how did you find me?" barry says surprised, wiping the dust from the photo off of his hands on his jeans. "just had a feeling - but also the meta-human alert app man" cisco says with a twinkle in his eyes, walking over to where barry is. "i hacked into the security cameras, and oh man, that fight with top and mirror mirror was epic!" 

cisco steps foward and pulls him into a hug. cisco wraps his arms around barry's shoulders and becomes silent, burying himself in barry's shoulder. warmth radiates from where his hands are wrapped around cisco's middle, his fingers almost burning. cisco lingers for a moment too long and barry feels his throat drying up. something is off about the dynamic of their relationship, and he doesn't know what. cisco slowly pulls away from barry, tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear. "i've missed you" cisco says and frowns, reaching out and taking barry's hand in his. barry doesn't respond. 

"now. what year is it that you're from?" cisco drawls, beginning to draw small patterns on the back of barry's hand with his thumb. "20-" barry begins, only to have cisco cut him off. "no wait! let me guess - 2017, judging by the design of the suit." cisco tenses up and immediately withdraws his hand from barry's. barry lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. cisco rubs his neck. cisco continues speaking, but from a farther distance then before. "what happened in 2017?" cisco talks to himself, trying to remember what had happened that year. "ah yes, savitar" cisco says bitterly, a ghost of a sad smile on his face. barry swallows."what happened to everyone. i mean, where is everybody?" barry asks and a torn expression makes its way onto cisco's face. "you mean team flash?" barry nods. "long gone." cisco says, and barry frowns at that. "do you at least know where future me - i mean barry is? i need to talk to him" barry says. as soon as barry had said 'future me" the look in eyes cisco's shifted from disconnect to sadness. cisco didn't respond immediately and barry took the liberty of stepping toward and placing his hands gently on his friend's shoulders. cisco flinched and wriggled out of his grasp, stepping even further away from him and cleared his throat. barry feels a pang of guilt. he looks down at the floor.

 

what the hell happens between him and cisco in the future?

 

cisco takes him to where future barry is, which is S.T.A.R labs. cisco and barry step into the elevator and cisco presses a button with a gloved hand. barry peers down and notices that cisco is in fact, wearing a pair of black gloves. not once has he ever seen cisco wear gloves. his cisco's hands never get cold - he says it's in his blood. so why was cisco wearing them now? raising an eyebrow, he leaves it be and the doors close. the elevator whirs to life and begins to acend. they don't talk and the silence between the two hangs heavy in the air. cisco drums his finger on the railing on the wall, and avoid's barry's eyes when he tries to get his attention. barry runs a frustrated hair through his hair and slumps. the elevator slows to a stop and barry's walks out as soon as the doors open. he expects cisco to follow. he doesn't. "aren't you coming?" barry says hesitantly as he eyes cisco's uncomfortable posture. cisco shakes his head no, his curls fall from the bun and in his face. cisco brushes them away. after a moment of silence between the two, the elevator doors begin to close and cisco reaches out and catches it with his hand so it doesn't. "i shouldn't even be here" he says. "he doesn't even want to see me." with a sad smile, he moves his hand so the doors can close and with that barry is left alone in a dingy S.T.A.R labs. 

barry walks into the cortex and begins to look around for any clues. "you shouldn't be here" a deep voice says from the doorway, and barry doesn't even have to turn around to recognize his own voice. "i'm here to try and save iris" barry says, turning around to look into his future self's eyes. "you can't" future barry says monotonously, walking from the doorway into the light. he looks like an emotional wreck, well i mean he is but barry's not about to say that to his face. 

"yes i can!" barry pleads. "i just need to know who savitar is." future barry chuckles bitterly and replies with "i can't tell you that." future barry lets out a sigh. "just go back to where you came from." he replies. "and spend as much time with iris as you can. before it's too late." anger boils up inside barry as his future self turns to walk away. "WHY CAN'T YOU TELL ME WHO HE IS." barry bellows, storming up to him and blocks his path. he pants heavily, awaiting his response. "because i don't know" future barry saying quietly, shoving his hands into his pockets.

barry feels numbness spread throughout his body as those words sink in. he feels if he's underwater as he stumbles back, blinking back the hot tears that threaten to fall. future barry looks at the wall behind him, eyes glazing over. "you can't save her, nobody can. go. away." he gruffs, pushing past barry and disappearing from sight. 

barry closes his eyes and leans heavily against the wall for support. he pinches the bridge of his nose, as he thinks about all the people he has apparently lost in this future. there's iris, wally, joe, caitlin, hr, cisco. CISCO. with that his eyes shoot open and he sprints after future barry. he finds him absentmindedly staring at the elevator waiting for it to come up. "hey!" barry shouts and he turns around to look at barry. he rolls his eyes and groans, "what the fuck do you want now?" barry is momentarily taken back by his future self's vulgar language but regains his composure quickly. "what happened between you and cisco?" he asks him. future barry freezes, his mask of 'toughness' falling off for a second to reveal a variety of mixed emotions.

sadness, anger, betrayal, wait - is that love and lust? 

"if you want to know so badly, why don't you go ask him!" he scoffs, stepping inside of the elevator as the doors open. he reaches and presses the button. "after all, he was the one who broke it off." and with that the doors shut, leaving barry's mind reeling. 

broke off what? 

 

barry meets cisco in the pipeline a few hours later. after visiting all the people he loves and cares about, he's ready to go back to his timeline. he's pissed because the only information he got from the future is how much of an asshole he becomes. cisco begs for him to stay, help form team flash again and barry asks why he hasn't done so yet. cisco pulled off his gloves and showed what was underneath them - or what was left of them. "oh cisco" he says sorrowly and cisco shoves his robotic hands back into the gloves. 

 

cisco lets out a bark of laughter, looking up at barry. "pretty useless if i can't open dimensional breeches or send vibrational blasts." barry places one hand on cisco's shoulder, relaxing when he doesn't flinch like the last time. he looks into cisco's eyes. "you are not useless cisco. don't ever think so lowly of yourself, okay? you are the most brilliant man i have ever gotten to know and you always will find another way to be useful. i promise." he says with so much sincerity in his voice. cisco takes in a shaky breath, lost for words. then he does the unexpected. cisco grabs a fistful of barry's hair and leans upwards, connecting their lips together.

 

barry freezes as cisco's soft lips move against his own, his heart fluttering in his chest. barry, with much uncertainty, begins to respond to the kiss, his mouth, hot and wet pressed flush to cisco's. his eyes flutter shut and he wraps his arms around cisco's waist, pulling him closer. something errupts in his low in his stomach: a combination of fire and butterflies. he can't decide which. one hand trails up to cisco's jawline and then through his hair running his hair through the curls. cisco reaches back and takes the elastic of his hair, giving more access to barry. barry experimentally tugs on the locks, and cisco moans into his mouth. cisco's hands trails down to barry's ass and and squeezes it. barry pants into the touch. 

 

its when cisco begins lapping at his lips, wanting to be let in when barry suddenly realizes what he's doing. his eyes widen and he pushes away cisco in shock. cisco stumbles away from him, and obvious expression of hurt displayed on his face. barry wipes his mouth on the back of his hand, disgusted with himself. barry pales when he turns around sees his reflection in the monitor. his hair was sticking up in all different direction and his lips were swollen. 

 

"u-uh" barry stutters, panicky when he sees cisco completely calm, as if them making out has happened before. has it? cisco takes an elastic that was wrapped around his wrist and puts his hair up again and looks at the floor. "i'm assuming this hasn't happened in your timeline yet then" he says smoothly, walking over and sitting down on the ledge near the ramp. "what do you mean, yet?!" he says, pacing up and down the ramp. cisco's eyes follow his every move. barry suddenly realizes and he comes to a stop. "is that what the other me meant when he said that you were the one who broke it off? because at first i didn't get it but oh rao NOW i get it but im marrying iris and this is never going to be a thing and if -" "HEY" cisco cuts off barry's rambling. "are you going to shut up long enough for me to explain myself?" barry nods, so cisco takes that as a que to continue.

 

"well, after...you know what, my barry was pretty devastated. most days he wouldn't get out of bed. meta-human crime and normal crime rates skyrocketed, when people realized that the flash was no longer there to control and to protect. it was about 2 months after iris' death that i showed up at your -his house with a basket of movies and an assortment of goodies. we spent the whole night talking about our fears and weaknesses while shoveling junk food down our throats. it was great." cisco said with a smile, gazing dreamily at the ceiling."for the next couple of months we would hang out at his and we grew super close. i began to leave my things at your apartment - an extra set of pjs, a toothbrush - whatever. but one night, things just...changed. i think we were watching tv when you uh." cisco coughed, his face flushing. "blew me for the first time." barry let out a noise of embarrassment, hiding his face in his hands. "from there on those uh..those types of things occurred all the time. but nothing more. we were just, what do you call it? i -" "fuckbuddies" barry blurts out and covers his mouth. cisco raises an eyebrow but simply nods. "anyways my barry wanted more then just....sex; he wanted a relationship. i had wanted that from the start, ever since evil megalomaniac dr. wells. but i knew, deep down, that from the start this was to distract him from iris, and i didn't want to lead him on. he wasn't ready to move on yet. but having sex for 8 months kinda defeats the purpose of that. so i told him no, and he's been like this ever since." cisco finishes. this whole story makes barry's head spin. 

 

"maybe if you told him why, he might've understood." barry says exasperated, throwing his hands in the air. for a brief moment when barry first met cisco, he was so infatuated with him that his love for iris had momentarily weakened. but that was so many years ago, irrelevant. "i have to go" barry says curtly, leaving cisco, before he has a chance to say 'wait!'. a few seconds later a hysterical barry runs back in and kicks the wall. "why is it not working and why can't i leave?" barry spits out, panting with his hands on his knees. cisco doesn't respond, he just walks away. 

 

 

 

turns out cisco built a device that messes with the speed force in his system, because he didn't want barry to leave. that doesn't matter right now. all that matters now is that team flash is back together, and barry and his future self stopped mirror mirror and top together. when they got back to the cortex, everyone passed around hugs. well, every expect future cisco and future barry, who looked uncomfortable in each other's presence. barry notices this groans, putting his head on the main desk. he walks over to cisco and grabs his arm. he leans in close to his "please go make up, i promise you'll be happy you did" barry whispers. "tell him what you told me." he continues softly. he pulls away from him, and cisco breaks out into a nervous grin. "okay mom" cisco teases. cisco walks up to future barry, grabs his hand, and drags him out of the cortex. 

 

barry knows that he should be more mad that this happens in the future, but he isn't. he knows that if iris does die, that she would want him to be happy. and this version of him? looks pretty happy to him. so when he goes to go say his goodbyes to everyone he flashes into cisco's office.what he sees going on on cisco's desk proves that YEP OKAY THEY FORGAVE EACH OTHER. he speeds out of the room with his hands over his eyes, cisco and barry's moans turning into tear-jerking laughter after that reaction they just got.

 

barry arrives back to see wally standing exactly where he had been. "what's wrong? did it not work?" wally's voice of concern pulling him out of the scarring thing that just happened that keeps replaying in his head. "no" barry pants. "im back" "your back already? wait did you even go?" wally says. barry merely smiles in response and speeds to the cortex, wally following behind him.

 

barry almost runs into cisco in the cortex and swallows, avoiding his glance. cisco narrows his eyes, clearly noting something is up with him. "how are you back so soon?" cisco says, smiling up at him. "you know, time travel..stuff" barry says in response, scratching the back of his neck. "okay weirdo" cisco says, pulling a sucker from seemingly nowhere and pushes it past his lips, sucking on it. barry's eyes widened and his heart flutters. 

barry quickly turns away from where cisco is and walks over to where iris is standing, hugging her tightly. he kisses the top of her head and she buries her face into him. he looks across the room at cisco, making eye contact. his heart thuds in his chest as he recognizes the way cisco looks at him as he sucks on the pop. the way future him had looked at him.

and it's a look of longing. 

barry breaks their eye contact by tearing his gaze from him, and closes his eyes. he melts into iris body and lets out a shaky breath.

 

he hears cisco walk out the room.

 

he doesn't follow after him.

**Author's Note:**

> haha its 2am and i just finished this fic and i have to be up at 6am ahahahahw why do i do this to myself
> 
> anyways,, first fic mates


End file.
